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Stress Modeling Malmberget

LKAB plans to increase the production in Malmberget mine to 20 million metric tons of iron ore per year. The objective of this work was to create a detailed model of all orebodies to study the stress situation with continued ore production at depth.

Itasca's Role

Itasca constructed a three-dimensional mine-scale model for the Malmberget mine, including all orebodies (active and previously mined). The model was created in the CAD-program Rhino and using the element generator KUBRIX Geo and analyses were conducted with FLAC3D.

Project Results

The stresses around the orebodies due to mining at depth were evaluated. Evaluation of seismic moment for all possible orientations of the shear plane was made at locations of seismic events in the mine. The ESS (Excess Shear Stress) was calculated on the shear plane and the circular area with positive ESS was determined.